Monday, June 29, 2009

epic parenting fail #2

Long, long ago, when there really was nobody reading - barring you couple of lurkers out there (yes, I Know What You Did Last Summer Winter. Lurked on my blog, that's what.) - I 'fessed up to a disgraceful act of neglectful parenting. I'm afraid I must, once more, plead guilty to parental neglect.

Frieda and I went somewhere in the Jeep recently, we don't drive it very often ('cos its just shameful what that ride costs in petrol these days), but Frieda loves it, not least of all because as it's our camping car, it's highly likely to produce all kinds of bizarre bits 'n pieces to play with in the back.
I forget where we were coming from, but as usual Frieda had requested 'shoes OFF Mummy', and was happily foraging around in the back, marauding anything and everything within reach of her car-seat. I let her. It's her father's car after all : )

We got home, it was cold and wet, Frieda was cranky, I had many bags to carry, we had a brief but heated tussle getting her shoes back on.
She cried and whinged. I remained firm. I got her out the car and asked her to walk. She begged to be carried. I remained firm. She threw herself to the wet ground in hysterics. I walked into the house without her. She wailed. I remained firm and unmoved.
She finally crawled into the house, through the muddy puddles outside the door, in the throes of full omg-are-you-2? hysteria. I was aloof and unsympathetic.
She crawled to my feet and begged, begged: 'take shoes OFF Mummy, please Mummy', and as we were now inside (and her jeans were soaked and needed changing), I acquiesced and took off her shoes.

And this is what I found in her right boot.

The gas key from our camping gas bottle. Concealed in the small shoe of my tender daughter.

Bad, bad Mummy. This time I'm not even giggling.

10 comments:

Extranjera said...

Coming from someone with no children, but for all that it counts: Not so much a parenting fail, but a very unfortunate occurrence.
Don't read too much into it.
She'll still love you and NO, this will not scar her for life.

Mari Mansourian said...

oh wow... I went back to your first post .... funny... and the current one could also be funny.... bad parenting?? not so much... a note to you from now on just check everything you put on her :)
great post and like Extranjera said.. it won't scar her for life..

spudballoo said...

Oh no, I haven't read the first post but I soooo empathise with this one. I can't think of something similar but I know there have been a handful of similar instances here where I have stood firm, and later felt appalling when I realise they weren't just playing up/putting it on etc. Ouch!!

Poor you!! xx

julochka said...

i was afraid it was going to be a big old spider. or even worse. a toad. i think you'll both be fine and except for the fact that you have immortalized it here, you'll both forget eventually. :-)

don't you just love standing firm?

My name is Erin. said...

Ah yes. Just when we manage to set our feet down and not give in on our decrees, they remind us to stop and listen to what they're trying to tell us. Ugh! But I agree with everyone else, you are by no means a bad parent. You're just human. :)

Sarah Lulu said...

Haha ....so well written and I can recall moments like that myself when I felt I had truly failed as a mother and I was instead an ogre!

Liz Fulcher, The Fragrant Muse said...

Not a bad parent, not at all. This is actually how kids learn the consequences of their own actions. She put something in her shoe. It hurt to walk on it. Lesson learned.

When I began to read the post my curiosity got the better of me and I skipped to the photo thinking she had found something interesting in the back of the jeep. I swear I thought it was a pot pipe.

Trust me darlin'. You're a good parent.

Anonymous said...

Ohhh, I have plenty stories like this and trust me, I feel your pain. Just recently I had a mishap with my neice. She's only 6 months old, poor dear. I put her in her swing, which she normally loves. Well, she began to cry. I tried the paci. She sucked a little and then let out a wail and spit it out. I tried again, and again, and again. I thought she was fighting her sleep because her eyes seemed heavy. Well, finally I told my sister that I didn't know what was wrong with her, she must be sleepy, but she won't stop crying. My sister came over to take a look and immediately noticed that I had pulled the tray down and snapped it in place with her little bitty baby foot underneath the part that is supposed to go between their legs. I could have died! That poor little baby! And my sister looked at me like how could you do something so horrible to my baby. And then my mom piped up and said man, what are you trying to do kill the kid? I could have killed her. Wasn't it bad enough that I just hurt a poor innocent child by accident that she had to go and pour salt in the wound. That's my mom though and a whole other story.

Anyways, so sorry.

Sarah said...

OH Molly! Oh well, I am sure that you will both be OK and she won't even remember it anyway!

McGillicutty said...

Blame Daddy it's his car with all the crap in the back... that's what I do!! hahahahaa..